Natixis

A trio of public sector borrowers hit screens with mandates on Monday ahead of what SSA bankers say will be a busy week of supply following a glut of benchmark issuance towards the end of the first quarter.

Chinese issuers have become too focused on Hong Kong when marketing their dollar bonds, panelists at Euromoney's China Debt Capital Markets Summit said last week.

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Demand for Ireland-based aircraft leasing company Avolon's unsecured loan took off, allowing it to sign the deal at $500m this week, as the company attempts to gain an investment grade rating.

Despite a slight softness in the European corporate bond market at the end of Tuesday, Wednesday brought another strong deal. CNH Industrial, the agricultural machinery and lorries group backed by the Agnelli family, issued an eight year bond that was increased to €600m.

Air France-KLM, the Franco-Dutch airline, on Wednesday issued a new €500m convertible bond due in 2026. The deal was repriced in the issuer’s favour after long-only convertible funds piled in, following a drought of new supply this year.

Ghana became the first Sub-Saharan African sovereign to access the bond market this year on Tuesday, printing tranches of dollar paper on Tuesday and receiving one of the largest order books ever for a bond from the region.

A French public sector borrower is ready to hit the road to market its inaugural benchmark bond, following the launch of its Euro Medium Term Note programme at the end of last year.

Uralkali, a Russian potash fertiliser producer, has sent out a request for proposals to lenders in a bid to raise $1bn. But bankers say that the Russian market is beset with difficulties that are delaying the few transactions in the pipeline.

The Republic of Benin has opened books for its debut bond — a six year euro amortiser. Ghana is also expected to enter the market on Tuesday, following a roadshow to promote a dollar bond.

Abertis Infraestructuras, the Spanish toll roads group, launched on Monday the four tranche bond issue it had roadshowed for last week, and found Europe’s corporate bond market as avid for paper as it has been for the last couple of weeks. That enabled it to achieve a huge book totalling €14.5bn and at least one negative new issue premium.

Following the success of the jumbo acquisition financing for Brookfield and CPDQ’s purchase of Johnson Controls’ Power Solutions unit, European leveraged loan buyers now have a wide variety of credits to assess, with deals from Ceva Santé, Delachaux, Konecta and Hotelbeds in the market this week.